I am applying for veterinary medicine/science and seriously think it is the hardest course to get onto. I think it requires not only the grades, but:
- most work experience
- most knowledge on profession, current issues etc.
- most interview preparation - w/e related, current issues, knowledge of course, ethical issues, etc.

I would just like to know other people's opinions on the hardest course to get onto.

I'm thinking, just in terms of courses, not courses at specific unis, vet med is surely the hardest, it requires more work experience than medicine, more knowledge of the profession than for law, and interviews are required whichever uni you apply to.

I've applied for English and creative writing, and it is fiercely competitive. For some of the unis I applied to, I had to send in some examples of my writing. For one of them I need 4 poems and 7 pages of prose!

(Original post by Admonitor)
Med/Vet, Law, Economics, English and History are commonly seen as the most competitive (with Medicine perhaps the most) as far as I can remember. Will try and find statistics..

I would second this entirely, but I'd be reluctant to put History up in the same list as Medicine, Law, Economics and English. It does seem more popular than many other humanities courses, but I wouldn't say it's quite reached the level of the others. I would rank it alongside courses like Psychology.

Otherwise, I think you're pretty much got it with Med/Vet, Law, Economics and English. It depends on the institution as well of course. There are, of course, institutions at which courses other than those listed above are very competitive.

So, for example, whilst Imperial might be a very competitive institution overall, I'm assuming some courses in their humanities department aren't as competitive as say, the same course somewhere else, partly because Imperial isn't as well known for their Art in the twentieth century course as their Physics course, for example.

Maybe in terms of competition, veterinary isn't top, but I think in terms of the amount of work required to get onto the course (work experience, knowledge of profession, current issues, ethical issues) it is surely top

Useful link about difficulty to get into certain subjects. According to that V1 (fairly standard prefix, and most common for History courses) is as popular, if not more than M1 Law, or Q3 English (the most popular linguistics/Law courses by number applying). It's quite interesting actually seeing how small some courses are, like Material Sciences with 11.1 applicants per place.

Yeah, when I saw this thread medicine immediately popped into my mind. And rightly so, really. Medicine is easily one of the most demanding, and probably THE most important careers in the country, so it makes sense that the courses leading to it are selective.

(Original post by Planto)
Yeah, when I saw this thread medicine immediately popped into my mind. And rightly so, really. Medicine is easily one of the most demanding, and probably THE most important careers in the country, so it makes sense that the courses leading to it are selective.

Yup, Medicine and subjects "Allied to Medicine" are the most competitive according to that list anyway.

That list doesn't tell you the whole story. Courses like Law, Economics and English are ONLY competitive at the best universities aka top 10 in the country. Provided you have the grades for these subjects, you will most probably get an offer from a university outside the top 10 list.